One sunny Saturday in April, we celebrated the anticipated arrival of our baby girl. Since I loved looking through blog posts for inspiration for the shower (vs. just 1 photo on Pinterest), I wanted to put together one to share too!
At first, I wanted a pink garden theme... a very traditional baby girl pink event.
As we were putting together the details, we met with our chosen florist, Hens & Chicks in Pittsburgh. After a convo with Nathan, my vision started to shift.
He asked why I wanted the pink, girly shower and I thought, "Well, it's a girl and it's a baby shower? Plus it's everything you see out there."
After some homework and research and thinking about some different designs I liked, I came up with the shabby chic/vintage theme and put together this little "vision" board:
Basically my "condensed" Pinterest board for the day.
Everyone pulled together the most gorgeous shower with the most amazing details. It was beyond what I dreamed in my head!
I am so thankful to all of the talents and family members that helped to create the most perfect shower day for us!
Vendors
Venue/Food/Mom-osa Bar: Williams Golf & Country Club in Weirton, WV
Florist: Hens & Chicks from Pittsburgh, PA
Linens: Mosaic from Pittsburgh, PA
Stationery/Details: Studio Tee (my husband's aunt, Theresa Nimal)
Cookies: Love, Flour & Lulu (a nutrition group participant of mine, Melissa)
French Macarons: Bartram House Bakery in McMurray, PA
"Baby" Donuts: Peace, Love & Little Donuts in Bridgeville, PA
Maternity Photo: Cindy Hines Photography (a nutrition client of mine, Cindy)
Shower Photos: Ann Garry Photography
Favors/Activities/Gifts: my mom!
Pretzels: my mom, sister & grandma
Registry: Babylist.com
The room took my breath away when I walked in. I was overwhelmed with so many emotions, I will always remember that moment.
Special thanks to Ann Garry Photography, my dad, sister and grandpa for capturing the photos below! I didn't have my phone or camera the entire morning/day, I am SO grateful to have these.
Venue, Food & Mom-osa Bar
We chose to use the Williams Room for the shower & Garden Room for the buffet set-up at Williams Golf & Country Club in Weirton, WV. There is a beautiful view overlooking the Ohio River (on any given day that is not mid April when everything isn't in bloom just yet ;P), but the sun was shining and beaming into the room through large windows.
I LOVE brunch food... so we chose to have the shower at 11 AM with brunch options: french toast, sausage, bacon, farmer's scrambled eggs, hash browns, fruit, pastries, and my favorite salad: the Williams salad (cheese, nut, chicken, strawberries... omg, heaven!) The food at Williams is always delicious, and this was another great spread... BUT I'm so sad we didn't get a photo of it!! It was so colorful and beautiful when I walked in to get my food.
They also set up a Mom-osa bar for me :)
Bubbly: champagne or sparkling water
Juice: OJ, Cranberry or Pomegranate
Fruit: Berries & Pineapple
Studio Tee designed and made the sign, which was a spin on the invitation!
Click here for more details about having your next event at Williams Golf & Country Club. It is a super easy drive down 22-30, just about 25 minutes from Robinson Township, PA.
Flowers & Linens
The flowers were just absolutely amazing... as is all of the work from our chosen florist, Hens & Chicks (check out their Facebook and Instagram for more beautiful floral inspiration!)
The centerpieces were lush with shades of nudes, blush, ivory, and soft green. I LOVED all of the flowers which included Sahara Roses, Hyacinth, Heleboros, Juliet Garden Roses, and Ranunculus. We also had two swags made for our signs and to use around the room. The chandelier, however, was the show stopper. It was like walking into the most gorgeous English garden... and everything smelled divine! Oh, I wish I could transfer it through the screen to you!
At the end of the shower, I was just sitting there staring wishing I could just sit there among the flowers the rest of the day.
Nathan from Hens & Chicks also chose the linens for us, which came from Mosaic in Pittsburgh. We had Blush tablecloths with Aqua Venice overlays. In addition, we had aqua tablecloths for the gift & dessert tables, plus the napkins.
The Room
Close-up of the Flowers
Details
The details were beautiful and I tried to use my fellow #girlbosses or local vendors as much as possible.
STATIONERY
Jim's aunt, Theresa Nimal of Studio Tee, is a super talented graphic design/artist in the McDonald area of Pittsburgh. She made all of the beautiful stationery for the day: the invitations, welcome sign, baby photo frame, memory & keepsake cards, thank you cards, and swag bag tags. Her attention to detail is remarkable and EVERYTHING she makes always is so so beautiful.
Click here to send her an email about designing stationery and details for your next event.
BABY TABLES + MATERNITY PHOTOS
A previous client of mine, Cindy from Cindy Hines Photography, asked me if I wanted to have maternity photos taken and while it was definitely not on my radar, I'm glad I have them! She quickly edited the beautiful angelic one with the flower crown for this special day and I'm so glad it fit the decor so well! (She also took the "Beyonce one" I just had to include here too!).
I bought the flower pot holder at Hobby Lobby and the BABY and GIFTS letters at Michaels. My sister spray painted them and attached them to pieces of wood so they would stand without falling over. Studio Tee also made us this ADORABLE baby photo frame with baby pics of Jim and I. It fit perfectly.
We also had another cute table set-up with a poem my sister framed for me & the baby, plus a book called "Someday."
DESSERTS
For desserts (which actually ended up being appetizers... not sure who started that train, but that's my kinda girl! Yes, I would like dessert before the meal!), we had THE CUTEST cookies also made by a nutrition group participant of mine, Melissa from Love, Flour and Lulu. We ordered "baby" donuts from Peace, Love and Little Donuts (I hear people love them... I actually don't care for donuts, at all!), plus my mom, sis, grandma and I made some chocolate-covered pretzels. I also ordered French Macarons (gluten-free!) from Bartram House Bakery in McMurray.
FAVORS
For favors, we got a little out of control. My mom was set on "Thanks for celebrating Kate's Little Bun in the Oven with us!" Originally, we found a great deal on some potholders, which ended up smelling like rubber tires.
So instead, the week of the shower, my mom was running around trying to customize each woman's potholder set! We did our best to either match the kitchen or the attendees interests... some got two potholders with a Yankee Candle (smells of cinnamon stick or buttercream... can you believe they don't have cinnamon bun!?), others got potholders with a tea towel... they were all a little different and I think they were greatly appreciated. I still don't know how my mom pulled it off.
GAMES/GIFTS
For games/gifts, well, to be honest, I'm not really into games at showers. I'd rather go and enjoy the day and chat with everyone there. But my mom wanted to keep some traditions, so we had "small" games like who traveled the furthest, who has a birthday closest to the due date, who has a birthday closest PAST the due date (since first time moms are usually late!), 5th present I opened (for due month of May), 23rd present (for the due date) and a couple that didn't work out so well (pink ribbon on chair... and no one sat there. Sticker on bottom of plate, but they were cleaned up before we realized it, pink rock candy on the dessert table, that no one picked up... and a few other funny mishaps).
Ok, I did have everyone write on a diaper - some were funny, some were sweet, some had drawings… I did this at a baby shower when I was probably 16 and I just thought it was hilarious. I’m glad we included this easy “game.”
PLACE SETTINGS
I'm a bit sentimental and of course, as a new mama-to-be, I wanted advice from the important women in my life, however I didn't want to have the typical "advice to the new mom" idea. My mom came up with "memory cards" aka writing a "Memory with My Mom" and a "Memory with my Dad" on a small 4x6 card. Studio Tee designed and printed them for us.
Each woman wrote a memory they had with THEIR mom and a memory they had with THEIR dad with the sentiment that these special events or moments were things Jim and I should try to take the time to do with our baby girl.
I LOVED reading through these... going for long walks together, practicing softball in the backyard, learning to make their recipes, reading each night before bed, going on special 1-1 day trips or even weekend trips. We have so many great ideas now!
We also included an envelope at each place setting so they could write their return address. This helped me out so much. Less than 5 days later, I was able to have all of my thank you cards written, stamped, and in the mail! Highly recommend.
Also at each place setting, we had a little watercolor pregnant mama with this saying on the back:
"A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?' God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.' The baby asked, 'Who will protect me?' God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking her life.' The baby said, 'God, please tell me my angel's name.' God said, "You will simply call her Mommy.'"
It makes me tear up.
REGISTRY
Finally, one last detail I want to mention: my registry!
I used babylist.com because let's be honest, I wasn't going to be able to find everything I wanted at Target or Babies R Us (though Amazon would have been another good option). I'm a little.. hippy? holistic? So I wanted to be able to support small businesses (like those on ETSY).
Though I don't really know how the return policy would work, I don't foresee returning anything we received as we didn't get doubles of anything (maybe a book or two, not on the registry).
As far as diapers went, I wanted to be able to test a few brands myself to see what worked best for baby girl's skin. I ordered these for the "game" I mentioned above and I registered for this set which includes 6 different brands to test.
Geez, this turned into a MASSIVE post! I hope it is helpful for mama's planning their showers out there! xoxo
Have the most wonderful day celebrating the exciting arrival of your new little one!
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